WELCOME, EVENT HOSTS!

EVENT HOST GUIDE

WELCOME, EVENT HOSTS! Welcome to the community of North Carolina Science Festival event hosts! Thank you for your participation. The North Carolina Science Festival, presented by the Biogen Foundation, is a powerful opportunity to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics in our state. It s important for each event host (including you!) to help strengthen the North Carolina Science Festival as a brand name that delivers fun, engaging, wellorganized events. We want North Carolinians to see the North Carolina Science Festival brand associated with an event and think, I ve got to go to that event because I know North Carolina Science Festival events are great! Together, event hosts form a promotional network that benefits EVERY North Carolina Science Festival event. We ask that you become a strong link in the North Carolina Science Festival network. This Event Host Guide will help you do that. MEET KELVIN! Introduced in 2012, Kelvin is the official spokesbot of the North Carolina Science Festival. You will receive Kelvin-themed promotional items in your Event Host Kit. We encourage you to have fun with Kelvin. He can be a great tool for promoting your event! Here are a few suggestions for how you can use him to promote less formal events. If you have more ideas, please share them with us! Take photos of Kelvin at your organization before your event and with participants during your event. Share them on social media Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Be sure to tag @ncscifest so the Festival staff can help you share to a larger audience. Insider s Tip: It s fun to give Kelvin different accessories (such as hats or props) and settings! Encourage guests to take and post pictures of themselves with Kelvin. Download the Kelvin coloring page from the Festival website and distribute copies to all of the kids in attendance. Download from: www.ncsciencefestival.org/about-us/kelvin Hold a drawing to give Kelvin away at the end of your event.

BEFORE YOUR EVENT Use the promotional items in your event host kit. Advertise your event with your local media (optional). Spread the news about your event. Start with creating a news release. You can find a template on the Festival website. If you do not use this template, please include the standard North Carolina Science Festival boilerplate text at the end of your release. (You ll find the boilerplate text on the Festival website, too.) Include the North Carolina Science Festival logo on your website. Link the logo to www.ncsciencefestival.org so that everyone knows that you are hosting an official event. Send your news release to your regular media contacts and to the Festival (ncscifest@unc.edu). Use free online communication tools. ost your event to community event calendars and include a link to your event page on the North Carolina Science Festival webpage. Include the phrase A North Carolina Science Festival event at the end of your calendar listing. If your budget permits, you may choose to support your event with additional paid advertising. The Festival staff can provide you with templates for print advertising upon request (ncscifest@unc.edu). You are welcome to develop print advertising using your own branding. If you choose to use your own branding, please include the North Carolina Science Festival Official Event logo. If you use radio advertising, please include the language A North Carolina Science Festival Official Event in the spot. If you do online or broadcast advertising, please include the North Carolina Science Festival Official Event logo. Include the Festival web address (www.ncsciencefestival.org) in all communications. You may also include your website. Call local media outlets to pitch your event as a story idea (optional). Share your event news through your favorite social media tools, too! Display your Festival banner and posters in your lobby, elevator, café or other public space. Create a custom North Carolina Science Festival flyer for your event. You can download a template from the Festival website. You may also create a flyer using your branding. If you create an original flyer, please include the North Carolina Science Festival Official Event logo. Editors receive lots of news releases. Making personal contact with an editor or reporter can make the difference between getting coverage or not. Many media outlets will cover the event as it happens, so the audience will not see and hear that coverage until the event has already happened. Be sure to promote your event BEFORE it happens!

DURING YOUR EVENT As an event host, you ll enjoy the prestige that comes with being a North Carolina Science Festival Official Event. You ll also benefit from our statewide network of promotion. Thousands of participants will visit the Festival website and look for events to attend. The Festival network is most effective when every event host participates. Let everyone know about your North Carolina Science Festival affiliation! Your event host kit contains lots of items that you can use. Wear the Festival t-shirts or use them as a giveaway! Hang the Festival banner in a prominent location near the entry point for your event. Use Festival oweroint slides as a pre-show before your event. (You can download these from the Festival website.) Ask everyone who is tweeting to tag your organization and use the Festival hashtag (#ncscifest). Take photos and post to your organization s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts during the event and remember to tag us so we can share the fun! ost your photos to the North Carolina Science Festival group on Flickr (www.flickr.com/groups/ ncsciencefestival). During opening remarks, please tell participants that they are attending an official North Carolina Science Festival event. Close your event by thanking participants for attending our North Carolina Science Festival event. Remind participants to visit www.ncsciencefestival.org to find other Festival events in your community and across the state. ROMOTIONAL RESOURCES Go to this Festival web page to download free materials! http://www.ncsciencefestival.org/get-involved/host-an-event/resources-for-events/ NEWS RELEASE TEMLATE BOILERLATE TEXT Boilerplate is a term used in public relations to describe standardized, ready-to print language that is used frequently. If you need Festival materials that you cannot find on the website, please email your request to: ncscifest@unc.edu FLYER TEMLATE FESTIVAL LOGOS AND MORE!

OFFICIAL COLORS AND FONTS ANTONE CMYK RGB OFFICIAL FONTS GOTHAM North Carolina Science Festival Gotham is used in headlines and very small type. ROCKWELL North Carolina Science Festival Rockwell is used in the ribbon banner and subheads. ARCHER North Carolina Science Festival Archer is the standard body text typeface in this booklet. ALTERNATE FONTS Fonts can be costly. Rockwell is the only Festival font commonly found on most computers. If a sans serif font is needed and Gotham is unavailable, we recommend either of two fonts that are similar to Gotham and available on most computers: FRANKLIN GOTHIC DEMI North Carolina Science Festival ARIAL BLACK North Carolina Science Festival